Intercooler Assembly for Vehicle

ABSTRACT

An intercooler assembly for a vehicle. The intercooler assembly may include an inflow portion on which an inflow hose is mounted, the inflow portion including a buffering space to temporarily accumulate an in-flowing air, a first cooling portion fluidly connected to the inflow portion, an outflow portion on which an outflow hose is mounted, a second cooling portion fluidly connected to the outflow portion, and a turnaround portion fluidly connecting the first cooling portion and the second cooling portion, wherein the turnaround portion changes a flow direction of the in-flowing air and guides the in-flowing air toward the outflow portion so as to discharge the air.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present invention claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 2008-0123656 filed on Dec. 5, 2008, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an intercooler assembly for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an intercooler assembly for a vehicle, which improves cooling efficiency and simplifies a structure.

2. Description of Related Art

In general, an intercooler for a vehicle cools intake air pressurized by a turbocharger compressor using air introduced into the front of the vehicle during traveling.

Referring to FIG. 1, an engine assembly 1 includes inflow and outflow hoses 10 and 20 mounted on opposite sides of the intercooler 30. The inflow hose 10 is connected to a turbocharger compressor which compresses intake air. The intake and exhaust manifolds are typically separated on left hand (LH) and right hand (RH) of an engine. In detail, the inflow hose 10 is mounted on the right side of the intercooler 30, while the outflow hose 20 is mounted on the left side of the intercooler 30.

Intake air flows from the turbocharger compressor to the intercooler 30 through the inflow hose 10, and thus are cooled at the intercooler 30. Then, the cooled intake air flows from the outflow hose 20 to the engine through the intake manifold again.

Typically, the air is cooled during flowing along this path. However, as illustrated in FIG. 2, when temperature outside the vehicle is low, the air passing through the intercooler is bypassed by a bypass valve 32 so as not to be supercooled. This is because the intake air supercooled due to the low temperature deteriorates the exhaust gases (CO, HC, etc.).

This intercooler system has the following disadvantages.

First, an existing bypass valve is configured to have separate spaces for a flow path of air when the air is required to be cooled and a flow path, i.e. a bypass path, of air when the air is not required to be cooled. However, only one of the two paths is always used, so that the bypass valve decreases efficiency but increases cost and weight.

Second, although the intercooler is increased in size so as to exchange heat while being in contact with the air introduced during traveling with a wider area, the inflow hose has the same cross section. As such, as illustrated in FIG. 3, an effective area used for actual cooling among the entire area of the intercooler is not increased in proportion to the size of the intercooler. Thus, a cooling effect improved by increasing the size of the intercooler is not sufficiently exerted.

For reference, in the case of the intercooler of FIG. 3, the results of analyzing a flow rate of the air flowing through the intercooler through the hoses shows that the flow and cooling of the air are mainly generated on half of the entire area of the intercooler, and thus are remarkably reduced on the other area of the intercooler. This is because input portion of the inflow hose 10 does not include a buffering space between the inflow hose 10 and the intercooler 30 to deliver the air to the distal end portion of the intercooler 30 in a traverse direction thereof.

The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various aspects of the present invention are directed to provide an intercooler assembly for a vehicle, capable of improving cooling efficiency and simplifying the structure of an intercooler.

In an aspect of the present invention, the intercooler assembly for a vehicle may include an inflow portion on which an inflow hose is mounted, the inflow portion including a buffering space to temporarily accumulate an in-flowing air, a first cooling portion fluidly connected to the inflow portion, an outflow portion on which an outflow hose is mounted, a second cooling portion fluidly connected to the outflow portion, and a turnaround portion fluidly connecting the first cooling portion and the second cooling portion, wherein the turnaround portion changes a flow direction of the in-flowing air and guides the in-flowing air toward the outflow portion so as to discharge the air.

The outflow portion may include a buffering space to temporarily accumulate an out-flowing air.

The inflow hose may guide the in-flowing air from a turbocharger compressor toward the inflow portion and the outflow hose may guide the air to an intake manifold.

The first and second cooling portions may be formed monolithically.

The first cooling portion and the inflow portion may be formed monolithically.

The second cooling portion and the outflow portion may be formed monolithically.

The inflow and outflow portions may be located at a same lateral side of the intercooler assembly in parallel.

The inflow and outflow hoses may be mounted on a same lateral side of the intercooler assembly.

The first and second cooling portions may be configured to be streamlined.

The intercooler assembly may further include an air passage through which the inflow portion directly communicates with the outflow portion, and an air control member configured to regulate flow of an air between the inflow portion and outflow portion, wherein the first and second cooling portions is separated by a partition that prevents fluid communication therebetween.

The air control member may include a bypass valve having a rotary plate which is rotatably coupled to the partition so as to open or close the air passage by rotation thereof so that the air is bypassed from the inflow portion to the outflow portion when the air passage is open.

The turnaround portion may include at least a fin configured to be in an approximate “U” shape.

The first and second cooling portions may include at least a fin for increasing heat-exchanging performance.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description of the Invention, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a conventional intercooler assembly.

FIG. 2 illustrates the state in which air is bypassed in the intercooler of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating an exemplary flow of air in an intercooler.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an exemplary intercooler assembly for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the exemplary intercooler of FIG. 4.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate an interior of the exemplary intercooler of FIG. 5.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an intercooler assembly for a vehicle according to various embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the intercooler assembly includes an inflow hose 40 guiding air from a turbocharger compressor, an intercooler 60 cooling the air introduced from the inflow hose 40, and an outflow hose 50 guiding the air from the intercooler 60 to an intake manifold.

The intake manifold which supplies a fuel/air mixture to cylinders constituting an engine assembly 1 is not illustrated in FIG. 4 for clarity.

Particularly, the inflow hose 40 and the outflow hose 50 are preferably mounted on the same end of the intercooler 60. The intercooler 60 has the substantial shape of a cuboid. The inflow and outflow hoses 40 and 50 are mounted on a left-hand or right-hand end of the intercooler 60. In other words, the inflow and outflow hoses 40 and 50 are mounted on the intercooler 60 so as to be located up and down in the same side.

In FIG. 4, the inflow hose 40 is mounted on a lower portion of the intercooler 60, while the outflow hose 50 is mounted on an upper portion of the intercooler 60. Unlike the embodiment of FIG. 4, alternatively, the inflow hose 40 may be mounted on the upper portion of the intercooler 60, while the outflow hose 50 may be mounted on the lower portion of the intercooler 60.

It can be found from FIG. 4 that the outflow hose 50 is shorter than a conventional outflow hose. Like the conventional outflow hose 50, the long outflow hose 50 is responsible for a decrease in departure performance as well as an increase in cost/weight/noise. Thus, it is necessary to reduce the length of the outflow hose 50.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the intercooler of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5, the intercooler 60 includes an inflow portion 64 on which the inflow hose 40 is mounted, a cooling portion 72 cooling air while the air flows, a turnaround portion 76 mounted on a first end of the cooling portion 72 so as to change a flow of the air, and an outflow portion 68 discharging the air.

Particularly, the inflow portion 64 is preferably located adjacent to the outflow portion 68. In detail, the inflow and outflow portions 64 and 68 are coupled so as to hold at least one face in common. Alternatively, the inflow and outflow portions 64 and 68 may be formed in one body.

The air flowing from the inflow hose 40 to the intercooler 60 generally passes through the inflow portion 64, cooling portion 72, turnaround portion 76 and outflow portion 68 in turn, and then is guided to the engine assembly 1 again. At this time, the air is cooled while passing through the cooling portion 72.

The intercooler 60 further includes a bypass valve 80 between the inflow and outflow portions 64 and 68. The bypass valve 80 allows the air introduced into the inflow portion 64 to directly flow to the outflow portion 68 without passing through the cooling portion 72.

Further, the cooling portion 72 is equipped with a partition 74 such that the air flowing from the inflow portion 64 to the turnaround portion 76 is not mixed with the air flowing from the turnaround portion 76 to the outflow portion 68. Thus, the air flows in opposite directions with the partition 74 in between. Meanwhile, the partition 74 has the substantial shape of a rectangle, and divides the space of the cooling portion 72 into two spaces.

The turnaround portion 76 forces the air passing through one of the two spaces of the cooling portion 72 which are divided by the partition 74 to flow into the other space. Thus, the air flows in an approximate “U” shape due to the turnaround portion 76.

Meanwhile, the turnaround portion 76 may be provided with fins, which guide the flow of the air so as to effectively exchange heat with the air passing through the interior of the turnaround portion 76. Here, the fins of the turnaround portion 76 may be approximately disposed perpendicular to those of the cooling portion 72.

The inflow portion 64 has a port 65 on which the inflow hose 40 is mounted. Meanwhile, the inflow portion 64 is preferably configured in such a manner that the cross-sectional area thereof increases from the port 65 to the cooling portion 72. Further, the inflow portion 64 is gently inclined from the port 65 to the cooling portion 72 such that the air introduced from the inflow hose 64 can uniformly diverge toward the cooling portion 72.

Further, the outflow portion 68 has a port 69 on which the outflow hose 50 is mounted. Meanwhile, the outflow portion 68 is preferably configured in such a manner that the cross-sectional area thereof decreases from the cooling portion 72 to the port 69. Further, the outflow portion 68 is gently inclined from the cooling portion 72 to the port 69 such that the air can flow to the outflow hose 50 without great resistance.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the inflow portion 64 and the outflow portion 68 are configured to be streamlined and include buffering space so as to accumulate the air temporarily. Due to the buffering space of the inflow portion 64, the air flowing into the inflow portion 64 is sufficiently distributed along the traverse direction of the cooling portion 72. Furthermore, due to the buffering space of the outflow portion 68, the air flowing through the outflow portion 68 can be collected to the port 69 with gradual pressure gradient so that the air can be flown through the outflow hose 50 smoothly.

Meanwhile, according to various embodiments, since the flow of the air in the intercooler 60 is changed at the turnaround portion 76, the intercooler 60 has about two times as many loci of the movement of the air as a conventional intercooler has. Thus, a time for which the air passes through the cooling portion 72 of the intercooler 60 is increased about two times, so that cooling time and heat-exchanging distance of the air passing through the cooling portion 72 are increased, and thus cooling efficiency is increased.

Further, unlike the prior art, since the inflow and outflow portions 64 and 68 are located at the same end of the intercooler 60, the inflow and outflow portions 64 and 68 hold one end of the intercooler 60 in common. Thus, regardless of the size of the intercooler 60 is increased, only the half of the cooling portion 72 is used to introduce the air from the inflow hose 40 to the cooling portion 72, while the remaining half of the cooling portion 72 is used to discharge the air from the cooling portion 72 to the outflow hose 50. In other words, the cross-sectional area of the cooling portion 72 used when the air is introduced to the cooling portion 72 through the inflow portion 64 is reduced by about half as compared to the conventional intercooler, so that the air can be uniformly distributed in the cooling portion 72. As a result, the cooling efficiency of the intercooler 60 can be improved.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate the interior of the intercooler of FIG. 5, wherein FIG. 6A illustrates the state in which the rotary plate of a bypass valve opens a communication hole such that air is bypassed, and FIG. 6B illustrates the state in which the rotary plate of a bypass valve closes a communication hole such that air is not bypassed.

Referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B, the intercooler 60 includes a communication hole 62 through which the inflow portion 64 directly communicates with the outflow portion 68. The bypass valve 80 is installed in the communication hole 62 so as to regulate the flow of the air. The bypass valve 80 is installed so as to extend from the partition 74 of the cooling portion 72.

The bypass valve 80 has a rotary plate 82, which is turned to open or close the communication hole 62. Thus, according to whether or not the rotary plate 82 closes the communication hole 62, it is determined whether or not the air introduced into the intercooler 60 is bypassed.

If it is determined that the temperature outside the vehicle is so low as to supercool the air passing through the intercooler 60, the bypass valve 80 prevents the air from passing through the cooling portion 72 of the intercooler 60, so that the air is not cooled. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, the bypass valve 80 opens the communication hole 62 to form a channel such that the air is bypassed to the outflow portion 68 without being introduced into and cooled in the cooling portion 72.

In the case in which an attempt is made to cool the air using the intercooler 60, as illustrated in FIG. 6B, the bypass valve 80 closes the communication hole 62, thereby allowing the air introduced through the inflow portion 64 to flow into the cooling portion 72 so as to cool the air. At this time, the rotary plate 82 is rotated to close the communication hole 62.

Meanwhile, the air passing through the cooling portion 72 comes into contact with the numerous fins 75 of the cooling portion 72, thereby exchanging heat. Further, the fins 75 are installed in all of the two spaces of the cooling portion 72 between which the partition 74 is located so as to guide the flow of the air.

In an aspect of the present invention, the intercooler assembly mounts hoses on one end of the intercooler, thereby reducing the length of each hose extending from manifolds of an engine, and thus making it possible to increase departure performance and to reduce weight and cost.

Further, the intercooler assembly can bypass the air in a simple structure, and thus improve working efficiency due to structural simplification and reduction in the cost/weight/size of the intercooler.

Furthermore, the intercooler assembly increases an available effective cross-sectional area of the intercooler despite the increase in size of the intercooler, thereby improving air cooling efficiency and the resulting fuel efficiency.

For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper”, “lower” “left”, and “right” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents. 

1. An intercooler assembly for a vehicle, comprising: an inflow portion on which an inflow hose is mounted, the inflow portion including a buffering space to temporarily accumulate an in-flowing air; a first cooling portion fluidly connected to the inflow portion; an outflow portion on which an outflow hose is mounted; a second cooling portion fluidly connected to the outflow portion; and a turnaround portion fluidly connecting the first cooling portion and the second cooling portion, wherein the turnaround portion changes a flow direction of the in-flowing air and guides the in-flowing air toward the outflow portion so as to discharge the air.
 2. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the outflow portion includes a buffering space to temporarily accumulate an out-flowing air.
 3. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the inflow hose guides the in-flowing air from a turbocharger compressor toward the inflow portion and the outflow hose guides the air to an intake manifold.
 4. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first and second cooling portions are formed monolithically.
 5. The intercooler assembly according to claim 4, wherein the first cooling portion and the inflow portion are formed monolithically.
 6. The intercooler assembly according to claim 4, wherein the second cooling portion and the outflow portion are formed monolithically.
 7. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first cooling portion and the inflow portion are formed monolithically.
 8. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the second cooling portion and the outflow portion are formed monolithically.
 9. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the inflow and outflow portions are located at a same lateral side of the intercooler assembly in parallel.
 10. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the inflow and outflow hoses are mounted on a same lateral side of the intercooler assembly.
 11. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first and second cooling portions are configured to be streamlined.
 12. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, further comprising: an air passage through which the inflow portion directly communicates with the outflow portion; and an air control member configured to regulate flow of an air between the inflow portion and outflow portion.
 13. The intercooler assembly according to claim 12, wherein the first and second cooling portions is separated by a partition that prevents fluid communication therebetween.
 14. The intercooler assembly according to claim 13, wherein the air control member includes a bypass valve having a rotary plate which is rotatably coupled to the partition so as to open or close the air passage by rotation thereof so that the air is bypassed from the inflow portion to the outflow portion when the air passage is open.
 15. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the turnaround portion includes at least a fin configured to be in an approximate “U” shape.
 16. The intercooler assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first and second cooling portions include at least a fin for increasing heat-exchanging performance.
 17. A passenger vehicle comprising an intercooler assembly of claims
 1. 